Method of computerized monitoring of investment trading and associated system

ABSTRACT

A method of computerized monitoring of investment trading includes providing historic trading data for a specific trader, selecting a plurality of trading parameters for the specific trader and obtaining current information regarding the selected parameters, and/or providing historic trading data and applying rules to the current information and/or historic trading data to determine if a rules violation has occurred. The system may be employed to monitor whether market timing of mutual fund investments has occurred. A corresponding computerized system is disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/564,848 entitled “A METHOD OF COMPUTERIZED MONITORING OF INVESTMENT TRADING AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEM” filed Apr. 23, 2004.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and associated system for computerized monitoring of investment trading and more specifically it relates to a system which as to a specific trader and a specific investment obtains current information regarding selected trading parameters and compares it with historic trading data regarding the same and applies rules to determine if a violation of the rules has occurred.

2. Description of the Prior Art

It has long been known to employ computerized systems to process data, store the same and provide for output and various formats as desired. It is also been known to use the same for investment purposes. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,749,077 and 5,893,079.

In recent years, the need for a system to provide more effective and timely monitoring of investment activities has become acute. More specifically, numerous instances of improper conduct have resulted from “market timing” in the trading of mutual funds. For example, individuals have been known to engage in frequent purchases of mutual funds in large quantities at an early phase of an upward movement of the market and selling the same after a brief elapsed period as the market moves upward. The frequency of such transactions has reached the point in many instances of being burdensome on the mutual fund. The mutual fund must at times be forced to sell investment securities at a less than preferred time in order to reimburse such traders for their sizable redemptions. Also, the increased trading volume increases the mutual fund's transaction costs. This results in smaller investors being hurt as the market timing traders deprive the mutual fund of doing the most efficient job of maximizing the return for other investors. In addition, there have been instances of late trading involving transactions which were permitted to occur illegally after the market had closed, thereby permitting the individuals engaging such trading to take advantage of late-breaking news in anticipation of the response by the market upon opening the next day.

There remains, therefore, a real and substantial need for an effective automated system which can monitor on a rapid and reliable basis improper market timing behavior.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has met the above described need. It provides a method by which computerized monitoring of investment trading may be accomplished in a rapid, efficient and accurate manner by providing historic trading data for a specific trader, selecting a plurality of trading parameters for the specific trader and obtaining current information regarding those selected parameters followed by reviewing the current information and/or the historic trading data and then determining whether any of the rules employed in the method have been violated based upon the current information and historic trading data. In a preferred embodiment, the rules are applied to the current information and the historic trading data after comparison of the two categories of information. In the event of a violation of the rules, an appropriate alarm report is emitted.

The method and system may advantageously be employed in monitoring a specific trader with respect to a specific investment such as a mutual fund, for example, to determine whether improper market timing has occurred.

Various forms of trading parameters including pattern recognition are provided as a preferred means for monitoring such activity.

The computerized system of the present invention includes the data receiving interface for receiving trading data and organizing it according to the specific trader and specific investment. A server is structured to receive the organized trader- and investment-specific data from the receiving interface as well as providing an historical data unit to deliver data to the server. The server is structured to receive rules which govern permissible conduct and to compare the rules with the current information and historic data in making a determination as to whether a departure from acceptable trading conduct has occurred.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a computerized method and system for efficiently, accurately and promptly monitoring selected trading parameters in order to determine if a violation from the rules has occurred.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such a system which is structured to focus on a specific trader and within that specific trader's activities a specific investment and the trader's conduct with respect to the same over a period of time.

It is another object of the present invention to permit the rules to be revised by the user so as to alter the standards.

These and other objects of the invention will be more fully understood from the following description of the invention with reference to the drawings appended hereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram showing a form of method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a form of computerized apparatus of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As employed herein, the term “investments” shall expressly include, but not be limited to, mutual funds, common and preferred shares of stock, whether listed on an exchange or not, high-yield corporate bonds and high-grade corporate bonds, municipal bonds, United States bills, notes and bonds, mortgage-related investments and short-term securities such as commercial paper, banker's acceptances, repurchase agreements and supporting currencies.

As employed herein, the term “trading parameters” means one or more units of information relevant to investment trading in one or more investment products and shall expressly include but not be limited to transaction date, transaction time, price, product identity, trader identity, investment identity, trading volume and investment price history.

As employed herein, the term “historic trading data” means as to a specific trader, specific details regarding the trading record of that trader in respect of both sales and purchases including but not limited to the investment, the number and value of the specific investment, as to each trade the investment date and amount, with respect to sales, profit both before and after commissions and with respect to investments held, the return on investment before commissions, after commissions and annualized, patterns of trading, profitable trades, elapsed time between trades, number of market timing trades, trader trading history, dollar volume of market timing trades, percentage of market timing trades to all trades, trading patterns and selected critical days.

As employed herein, reference to “sub account” or “detail account” shall mean trader account information which may include one or more of the following: shareholder registration information, broker information, holding information and asset position information.

As employed herein, “omnibus account” refers to a large group of investors that are reported as a single account and an “omnibus trade” is a trade against an omnibus account.

As employed herein, a “detail trade” is a trade against a detail account.

The present invention provides means for isolating a trader and specific investment. The term “trader” embraces not only an individual trader who is the holder of an account, but also others to be monitored in a similar manner in respect of trading activity such as brokers, account representatives and account managers, for example. It includes generating a database of historical trading data regarding the specific trader as well as obtaining current information on a plurality of trading parameters which can be compared with the historical data. The trading parameters are preferably selected to correspond to the rules employed. Automated application of rules is employed to determine if a violation of the rules, such as market timing activity, has occurred with appropriate communications being emitted when such departure from rules has been determined to exist.

A preferred form of the method of the invention is illustrated in the flow diagram of FIG. 1 wherein a plurality of data packets represented by trading parameters 1-n, trading reference numbers 4,6,8,10 are all processed 20 to provide current trading information regarding a specific trader. This information is not only delivered to the historic data for combination therewith 24 at 26, but also is subjected to a comparison between the current information and the historic trading data 30. This information is then subjected to application of the rules in order to determine if a departure from the rules exists. The rules 36 which govern the method of evaluation or detection may be revised by the user or others permitted to do so 38 and then are provided in their current form for the comparison 34. The next block indicates the issue of whether a rules violation has occurred 44. If the answer is “no”, that is the end 48 of that cycle of the process. If the answer is “yes”, then an alarm report is delivered 50 and the existence of this departure is delivered to the historic data 29 for the specific trader 24. This cycle is repeated 60 with a predetermined frequency as determined by the user.

While the preferred practice of the invention involves making a comparison of the current information with the historic trading data, in some instances one may avoid the comparison and employ solely the current information or historic trading data in applying the rules.

The rules 36 may be modified and corresponding changes made in the trading parameters 4, 6, 8, 10 to facilitate efficient monitoring.

It will be appreciated that the historic trading data contains information regarding patterns of trading, times of trading, particular critical days and relationship to trading as well as the foregoing summarized information.

Some of the rules may relate to preferred practices of a user such as a mutual fund, brokerage, broker, dealer, government agencies, or others involved in the investment community, while others might relate to determination of improper conduct such as market timing.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown apparatus employable with the present invention. Sources of trading data 70, 72, 74, 76, which are structured to provide trading parameters with respect to a specific trader and specific investment, deliver data to the interface 80 which processes the current trading parameter data for the specific trader and delivers it to the server 86. Server 86 also receives historic trading data from historic data unit 90 and the rules form rules unit 92. The server 86 compares the current trading parameter data with the historic trading data which is then evaluated in respect of the rules with information being emitted through interface 96 to update the historic data unit 90 and to deliver information to the user as by terminals 100, 102 as well as providing a storage unit 104. If desired, storage can be within the server 76.

Also, apart from the reports which may have any desired format and content and which are emitted from the server 86 through interface 96, a user may access the information in a conventional manner.

Various forms of reports may be employed and the information may be provided in such a manner that multiple information units can be provided on a single terminal screen. Also, if desired, hard copy may be obtained by a conventional printer.

The server 86 may be structured to conduct statistical, probabilistic, heuristic, pattern-matching analysis of data in order to detect events of interest in respect of the trading activity of the selected trader with respect to one or more of his or her investments.

The system preferably has within the server 86 the capability of delivering results through at least one of the group consisting of html, xml, xbrl, spreadsheets and comma-separated files.

The invention may be structured to permit or prohibit an end user's viewing in a report or other format underlying detail trades or the omnibus trade.

While a primary focus herein in respect of monitoring for “market timing” has been on mutual fund transactions as this is currently a major problem, the invention is equally applicable with respect to other “investments” as defined herein.

The method and system of the present invention can monitor sub accounts (detail accounts) and omnibus accounts including detection of market timing with respect to each.

It will be appreciated therefore that the present invention provides a method and associated apparatus for the efficient, rapid and accurate processing of current trading parameter or trading data in respect of a specific trader and a specific investment, automated comparison of the same with the corresponding historical trading data followed by an application of rules to the same to determine whether there has been a departure from the rules and responsive action if such is found to exist.

Whereas particular embodiments of the invention have been disclosed herein for purposes of illustration, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that numerous variations of the details may be made without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims. 

1. A method of computerized monitoring of investment trading comprising providing historic trading data for a specific trader, selecting a plurality of trading parameters for said specific trader and obtaining current information regarding said selected parameters, and applying rules to said current information and/or historic trading data to determine if a rules violation has occurred.
 2. The method of claim 1, including prior to applying said rules, comparing said current information with said historic trading data.
 3. The method of claim 1, including applying said rules employing both current information and said historic trader data.
 4. The method of claim 1, including employing said process on a specific investment of said trader.
 5. The method of claim 4, including employing said process on a said specific investment which is a mutual fund.
 6. The method of claim 4, including repeating said process periodically for a said specific trader and specific investment.
 7. The method of claim 6, including employing the trade date and time as said parameters.
 8. The method of claim 4, including effecting said comparison employing historic trading data specific to said specific investment and said specific trader.
 9. The method of claim 1, including employing said method to determine if market timing mutual fund transactions have occurred.
 10. The method of claim 1, including if a rules violation has occurred, delivering an alarm report.
 11. The method of claim 4, including employing said process to detect specific patterns of trading in mutual funds.
 12. The method of claim 11, including monitoring said specific patterns in respect of higher- or lower-than-expected volumes of trading in said mutual fund by said specific investor.
 13. The method of claim 1, including customizing said rules with respect to said specific investor.
 14. The method of claim 4, including customizing said rules with respect to said specific investment.
 15. The method of claim 10, including effecting said delivery by at least one method selected from the group consisting of html, xml, xbrl, spreadsheets and comma-separated variable files.
 16. The method of claim 1, including selectively assigning and tracking trades for an omnibus account differently than trades for the underlying sub account.
 17. The method of claim 1, including providing with said historical trading data sub account information.
 18. The method of claim 1, including providing with said historical trading data omnibus information.
 19. The method of claim 1, including coordinating selection of said trading parameters with the said rules employed.
 20. The method of claim 19, including modifying said rules to monitor for specific trading conduct.
 21. The method of claim 9, including employing said method to detect market timing in sub accounts.
 22. The method of claim 9, including employing said method to detect market timing in omnibus accounts.
 23. A computerized system for monitoring investment trading comprising a data receiving interface for receiving trading data and organizing it according to a specific trader and specific investor, a server structured to receive said organized trader- and investor-specific current data from said data receiving interface, a historic trading data unit for delivering historic data regarding said specific trader and specific investment to said server, and a rules unit structured to deliver rules to said server, and said server structured to compare said current data and/or said historic trading data with said rules to determine if a rules violation has occurred.
 24. The computerized system of claim 23 includes said server structured to compare both said current data and said historic trading data with said rules.
 25. The computerized system of claim 23, including said server structured to compare said current information with said historic trading data before comparing said current information and said historic trader data with said rules.
 26. The computerized system of claim 23, including terminals operatively associated with said server for receiving output therefrom.
 27. The computerized system of claim 23, including said server being structured to process data regarding specific mutual funds, and said interface being structured to receive said current data in the form of a plurality of trading parameters specifically related to said specific investor and said specific investment.
 28. The computerized system of claim 27, including said trading parameters including trade date and time.
 29. The computerized system of claim 27, including said trading parameters including the specific account and transaction price.
 30. The computerized system of claim 23, including said server in the event of a rules violation being structured to issue an alarm report.
 31. The computerized system of claim 23, including said rules being structured to determine if specific trading patterns have existed.
 32. The computerized system of claim 23, including said rules being structured to determine if certain market timing transactions have been made by said specific investor in a specific mutual fund.
 33. The computerized system of claim 23, including said server being structured to deliver output in at least one form selected from the group consisting of html, xml, xbrl, spreadsheets and comma-separated variable files.
 34. The computerized system of claim 23, including said server being structured to assign and track an omnibus account differently from an underlying detail account.
 35. The computerized system of claim 23, including said historical trading data being structured to contain sub account information.
 36. The computerized system of claim 23, including providing with said historical trading data information relating to detailed trades as related to omnibus trades.
 37. The computerized system of claim 23, including said server being structured to monitor trading activity in sub accounts.
 38. The computerized system of claim 27, including said screen being structured to monitor trading activities in omnibus accounts. 